Domenico Dodaro
Born in Cosenza on 14 June, 1966.
Graduate of the LUISS “Guido Carli” University of Rome in 1989, admitted to the Bar in 1993, admitted to the highest courts in 2005.
Domenico focuses on business and company law, with particular attention to international issues and to constitutional and EU law. With particular interest to the border line between legal science and liberal arts, he pays specific attention to inter-disciplinary analysis of intellectual property issues.
Appointed as commissioner for the liquidation of a non profit entity with complex organisation and activity, Domenico developed a specific expertise in this field.
Lecturer at the LUISS “Guido Carli” University and at the University of “Roma Tre”, he authors several papers in his fields of interest.
Languages: English, French
Roma (00198)
Via Giulio Caccini 1
Tel. +39 06 85866057
Mob. +39 335 6593895
Email domenico.dodaro@juridicum.net
I was born in Cosenza (Italy) on June 14, 1966, and I live in Rome. I graduated in Law at the “Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali – LUISS Guido Carli” in Rome on June 17, 1989. I was admitted to the Bar of Rome on January 21, 1993, and admitted to the Supreme Court on February 25, 2005.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
After graduation, I started my legal training at a medium-sized corporate and tax law firm in Rome, the “Studio Legale Tributario Puoti, Rossi Ragazzi”. After admission to the Bar in 1993, in 1995 I was assigned to coordinate the corporate law department of the firm. At the time the firm was setting up an international law department (becoming “Studio Legale Tributario e Internazionale Puoti, Rossi Ragazzi, Giardina”) and the former managing partner was appointed as Transport Vice Minister.
In September 1997 I left the firm to organize my own independent practice. After being hosted for a few months by the tax law firm “Studio Legale Tributario Pettinato Buscaroli e Associati”, I joined it as a partner and the firm changed its name to “Pettinato Buscaroli Dodaro”.
In 2001 “Pettinato Buscaroli Dodaro” was dissolved and I joined the “Studio Legale Vita Samory, Fabbrini e Associati” of Milan as the residing partner for Rome. The firm, a medium-sized independent Italian practice, was a spin-off of the partnership incorporated in the Fifties by Francesco Carnelutti, one of the most prominent Italian jurists, and was then planning to merge with another medium-sized tax law firm named “Studio Legale Tributario Di Tanno e Associati”.
Ultimately, the two firms gave up the merger project and in 2007 I left Vita Samory, Fabbrini e Associati and took over its Rome business to incorporate a new partnership, named Dodaro, Varì e Associati. I was appointed managing partner of the firm.
In 2012 I drove the spin-off of “Dodaro Studio Legale” from the firm and founded the professional network “Juridicum”.
My main professional focus is business law, with particular regard to corporate and contractual transactions including international and E.U. implications.
I am particularly interested in organizational issues and I served as liquidator of non-governmental organizations and as a member of the board of directors of companies.
My lifelong passion for human sciences helped in the interdisciplinary study of their legal aspects. I have specific experience in advertising and media and entertainment law, with particular regard to the movie industry.
I am admitted to patron cases before all Italian and E.U. Courts in any instance and I have developed a good experience in commercial arbitration.
Some of the main clients I worked with are: Public administrations (including a Regional Government); several holding companies, private and publicly owned, focusing on the industrial and mining sectors; a hotel chain; an air company; one major Italian shipyard; one of the main advertising groups worldwide; several religious bodies and NGOs, including trade unions and enterprises’ organizations.
Here follows a summary of some of the most significant professional commitments I undertook in a team-leading position.
COMPANIES AND EXTRAORDINARY TRANSACTIONS
– Restructuring of a historical international luxury hotel chain and the relevant group of companies after a severe crisis (global indebtedness: ca. 500M Euro); spin-off of certain assets for the relevant development (global value: ca. 100M Euro);
– Liquidation of a non profit organization incorporated by the major players and unions of the pharmaceutical sector (global value of the NGO’s activities: ca. 50M Euro/year; for the first 3 years activity remained unchanged, then all contractual relationship with subcontractors and employees needed to be terminated: more than 120 people involved);
– Assistance to a merchant bank for the transfer of the satellite assets owned by certain telecommunication businesses in Europe and incorporation of the relevant vehicles; negotiation of the contractual instruments, analysis and evaluation of legal and tax implications; assistance in execution and implementation of the share purchase agreements and shareholders agreements (global value of the transaction: 550M Euro);
– Merger of two local non-profit organizations into one regional (undeterminable value; global number of individual entrepreneurs members of the NGOs to be merged: more than 5k);
– Privatization of several state-owned companies; due diligence reviews; structuring of the transaction; analysis of the EU law implications and discussion with the EU offices; negotiation and assistance in execution and implementation of sales of shares and going concerns (undeterminable global value);
– Assistance in the planning, analysis, and drafting of organizational models of a non-profit organization (global number of members: more than 600k; global number of managers: more than 100; global number of directors: more than 15) and several companies;
– Elaboration of a stock option plan for an Italian air company’s management
– Assistance in debt restructuring procedures inspired to “Chapter 11” procedures;
– Assistance in the negotiation and execution of a cooperation agreement between a trade union and a group of banks for the recovery of massive amounts of credits assigned by a public entity to a securitization vehicle (overall value of the credits to be recovered: ca. 1000M Euro).
INTERNATIONAL AND EU LAW
– Assistance to a regional government in the administrative and judicial opposition against several infraction procedures started by the EU Commission for illegal state aid (mining; agriculture; food; tourism) (global value: ca. 700M Euro);
– Assistance to a regional government in the process of authorization of state aid regimes (agriculture; fisheries; young and female entrepreneurship) (global value: ca. 100M Euro);
– Drafting of texts of regional laws and regulations disciplining state aid regimes authorized by the European Commission;
– Assistance to companies benefitting of state aid declared illegal by the EU Commission in the process of reimbursing the amounts received (global value of the state aid to be reimbursed: ca. 23M Euro).
ENTERTAINMENT – MEDIA – ADVERTISING
– Assistance to an international advertising network with regard to the following issues (undeterminable value):
° Evaluation of advertising campaigns in the self-regulatory perspective;
° Procedures before he self-regulatory jury on the protection of creativity and behavior rules;
° Evaluation of infringement of third parties’ rights.
– Assistance to a production company with particular regard to the following issues (undeterminable value):
° Acquisition of rights of film adaptation of literary work;
° Acquisition of rights on original stories and screenplays;
° Negotiation and execution of co-production agreements;
° Hiring of Italian artists, relationship with artist agencies;
° Hiring of US artists, escrow arrangements, SAG clearance;
° Negotiation and execution of international distribution agreements, legal delivery.
CONTRACTS
I have been involved in planning, organizing, negotiating and assisting in the execution of many contracts pertaining to industrial and commercial business development as well as non-profit initiatives, often with international parties or implications. Here follows a non-exhaustive, reference list:
– advertising contracts
– commercial distribution contracts
– credit assignment and factoring
– entertainment contracts: production and distribution of movies
– franchising
– guarantees
– IP contracts
– joint venture, consortium and temporary groupings of enterprises contracts
– public land concessions
– sale and lease of going concerns
– sale and purchase of companies’ shares
– Settlement agreements
– tender contracts for works and services, public and private
– travel and tourism contracts
REAL ESTATE – INFRASTRUCTURES
– Assistance for the realization of an important religious complex in Rome; contribution in the process of obtaining the building permit; in freeing the property from existing power line easement and in drafting the necessary contracts; assistance to the execution and in the implementation of the building contracts; assistance in the phase of work completion and in the administrative procedure for the occupancy permit (overall value of the investment: confidential);
– Assistance to a major worldwide consultancy firm for the analysis and preparation of the procedures concerning the allocation of residual properties belonging to a public entity (overall value of the properties: ca. 1000M Euro);
– Assistance to the owner company for the sale of a historical farm with important buildings in Rome (value of the transaction: ca. 7M Euro);
– Assistance to a trade union for the purchase of several office properties (overall value: ca. 5M Euro);
– Assistance to an Italian consortium for the settlement of one credit via the transfer of a property in lieu of the payment (value of the transaction: ca. 1,5M Euro).
LITIGATION
I am admitted to the courts of all instances in Italy and to the European Union Courts in Luxembourg and Strasbourg. Here follow a list of some significant litigation I was engaged for:
– ICC arbitration for the fulfillment of a share purchase agreement between a holding company based in The Netherlands (client-claimant) and an Italian company (the counterparty) (value of the claim: ca. 21M Euro) and consequent appeal and enforcement of the decision;
– ICC arbitration for the assessment of contractual damage for an Italian holding (client-claimant) against an Indian company (the counterparty) (value of the claim ca. 50M Euro);
– Ad hoc arbitration (Italy) concerning the termination or enforcement of a preliminary sale agreement of one commercial property in Rome (value of the transaction: ca. 16M Euro);
– Ad hoc arbitration (Italy) for the ascertainment of a right of certain members of an Italian consortium (client-plaintiff) to recede from the consortium (value of claim: undeterminable);
– Ad hoc arbitration (Italy) concerning the implementation of a contract for environmental services for an Italian holding (client-claimant) against an Italian contractor claiming for extra consideration (the counterparty) and consequent appeal and enforcement of the decision (Value of the claim: ca. 500k Euro);
– Ad hoc arbitration (Italy) – as arbitrator – concerning the validity and enforceability of a share purchase agreement (Value of the case: ca. 500k Euro);
– Litigation before the Administrative Tribunal of Latium and the High Administrative Court (Consiglio di Stato) concerning the interpretation of rules on the participation to public tenders of companies belonging to the same group (value of litigation: undeterminable);
– Assistance to the Chairman of the board of directors of a financial company against the request for seizure of personal assets for the guarantee of alleged damages caused to the company (value of the claim: ca. 3M Euro);
– Litigation before the Administrative Tribunal of Rome and before the European Tribunal for the protection of several D.O.C.s, I.G.P.s, and D.O.P.s (distinctive signs in the agro-food sector);
– Assistance to a private owner for the assignment in trust of the family assets to protect and assure the maintenance of a son mentally disturbed (value of the assets in trust ca. 6M Euro);
– Assistance to a real estate fund for the recovery of registry tax unpaid by the purchaser for the sale of a historical building in Milan (value of the amounts to be recovered: ca. 2M Euro).
TEACHING, LECTURES, PUBLICATIONS
I have been a lecturer at the public University “Università degli Studi di Roma Tre” and at the “Libera Università degli Studi Sociali – LUISS Guido Carli” of Rome on public and constitutional comparative law (classes from 50 to 80 students).
I have been a member of the group of lecturers of Fondazione Aristeia, a body incorporated by the National Council of Professional Accountants, to lecture to professional accountants about the reform of company law in Italy (classes of 30 to 100 professional accountants).
I registered some lessons for post-graduate formation courses for the university “TEL.MA” of Rome (a university giving online classes owned by the University of Rome “La Sapienza”) on real estate management issues.
I was a lecturer about company law and organizational models to conform to the rules inspired by the Sarbanes Oxley Act in internal seminaries organized by clients (classes of 15 to 50 managers).
I was a lecturer in a course about public procurement law supplied by a regional government among its employees aiming to enter the management (overall number of class hours: 48; classes of 30 to 50 attendees).
I contributed to the book “Gestire il Non Profit” (management of non-profit organizations) published by “Il Sole 24 Ore”, the main Italian economic newspaper and I have co-authored the contribute “Contratto preliminare e rapporti giuridici preparatori” (preliminary and preparatory agreements) in the Encyclopedia “Il Diritto” published by Il Sole 24 Ore. I regularly publish short notes and comments in the Juridicum.net “Blog” page.
I am a co-author of the novel “I fantasmi dell’Impero” (The Ghosts of the Empire) (Sellerio, 2017).
I am the author of the foreword for the photo book “Rome 1970s” by Stephan Brigidi (Daylight, 2019).